Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89162 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“I don’t look at him that way—or any way,” Molly protested. “He’s our boss.” She could feel her cheeks getting hot with an unwanted blush. Since she was an extremely pale redhead—well, pale except for the freckles she had literally all over her body—her embarrassment showed easily.
“So what? He’s single, isn’t he?” Lana demanded. “Though I admit, he’d be a handful and a half. Who knew there were even bigger Kindred than the regular ones out there?”
She was referring to the fact that Commander Torus was a Jorgen Kindred. The Jorgen Kindred—more commonly called the “Giant Kindred—” were a branch of the Kindred family tree that had left centuries ago to mate with a group of extremely large people on another planet.
Because of that gene trade—as the Kindred called it when they mated with a new species—the descendants of that first group were even larger than the average Kindred warrior. Most regular Kindred were around seven feet tall but the Giant Kindred were rarely less than nine feet tall and extremely muscular.
Recently, a squadron of Giant Kindred had re-established contact with the main group and a number of them had moved to the Mother Ship. Commander Torus was one of those—his slate-grey skin and enormous height made him an extremely intimidating figure.
But he was also a very good boss, Molly thought. He never shouted or raised his voice or tried to belittle any of the workers that were under him. His chiseled features and silver-grey eyes were always calm and impartial—he might even be called stoic, she supposed.
Most of the girls in their department seemed to think his impassive demeanor made their huge boss unapproachable. They whispered about how “scary” he was. A few of the single ones, however, had taken his glacial calm as a challenge. Karen Geners, for instance, had been throwing herself at him at every opportunity for weeks.
Karen was a slinky blonde with a Barbie-doll shape who had gotten her job at the Mother Ship through a friend who was already mated to one of the huge warriors. She was always wearing low cut blouses and tight skirts and making excuses to drop something in front of their boss so she could bend down and pick it up while her boobs practically fell out of her top.
So far, however, her efforts seemed to be in vain. Commander Torus paid exactly as much attention to her as he did to everyone else working under him. He never gave any of the women working for him in the Mother Ship Information Department special attention. Though once or twice Molly had felt like someone was watching her and had turned around to see him staring in her direction.
But as soon as she looked, it seemed her boss was concentrating on something or someone else, right over her shoulder. Or else he would just look away entirely. So she was certain she must be mistaken about him staring at her. After all, why would he look at a pasty, freckled redhead like her with way too much junk in the trunk when he could have perfect Barbie-doll Karen Geners any time he wanted?
Molly thought she had an okay face—she had big hazel eyes with long lashes and a cute nose. Her long, flame-red hair was probably her best feature. It fell in thick waves almost to her waist when she let it down—which she seldom did, preferring to keep it in a bun at the back of her neck. But there was no denying she was curvy verging on plus sized and not many guys liked that. Especially when all that extra weight was covered in freckles.
Because Molly had freckles everywhere—not just a cute smattering across her nose. She had them all over her face and all over her body—she even had freckles on her armpits and between her toes! Not many guys were freckle-freaks and chubby-chasers at the same time.
Zach said he liked the way you looked, whispered a little voice in her head. Until he suddenly didn’t anymore. When he—
Molly shut that thought down in a hurry. Now that she was finally free of her ex and his influence, she was making an effort to capture every negative thought she had and replace it with a positive one. She had a whole new life here, free of Zach. She needed to start thinking on the bright side.
There’s nothing I can do about my freckles but now that I’m not stress eating all the time, maybe I can finally lose some weight, she thought, trying to stay positive. She’d been trying to lose weight all her life with varying degrees of success. She wasn’t really unhealthy—well, unless you consulted those awful body mass index charts—but she was certainly too big to be attractive to most men.
There you go, thinking negative again, she scolded herself. Who cares what men think of you? You need to learn to love yourself, Molly. You used to be happy with who you were—remember? Before Zach? Now look at you—you have a great new job and wonderful new friends like Lana.